(2) Sun Jun 13 2010 09:15lost and found:
I was invited on Monday to a reunion of Vocal Ensemble, an elite group of the top 28 voices in my high school. Twelve years down the road, I must admit, I was not good at keeping in touch with any of the old clan. I had moved on, and had reservation about attending the event last night.

Also, I apparently was missing. No one could find me. They finally tracked me down in the nick of time for the reunion. I had no idea I was missing. Apparently not having a Facebook makes it easy for one to go missing.

Anyway, Susie had a piano recital, so I took the kids and went. I made a goal to talk to everybody and not just my old clan of friends. I had a really nice time. I must have been missed, not having been at any previous gatherings, due to being lost, because people were also interested in my kids. A handful of people complimented them thoroughly. And I've learned that it's a huge deal when you can eke out a compliment from those who already have multiple kids of their own. Jana in particular was enthralled with Dalton and held him for about half of the time I was there.

Also, apparently the past 12 years have been good to me. Several people told me they didn't recognize me and thought I was the spouse of a female VE alumna.

I've avoided high school reunions because I didn't want to relive any popularity contests or engage in a debate as to who had spent the past 12 years in the greatest endeavors; but this gathering wasn't like that at all. Everyone was very complimentary of each other and genuinely interested in each others lives. I think I'll continue to avoid the reunions, however. As mentioned above, this group was the cream of the crop; I guess I shouldn't be that surprised how nice everyone was.